


Happy Fourth of July

by NerdlingMitch



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal Life, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 15:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19379365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdlingMitch/pseuds/NerdlingMitch
Summary: Originally posted to my Tumblr July 2013"I asked if I should write a story about fireworks. You all said yes. Here it goes. It’s set in a the same high school AU as On the Ride Home, though Sabriel doesn’t seem to be its only focus. Destiel. Sabriel. Fluff, and a dash of angst. This is my 500th post, and my longest so far at 2,268 words, so enjoy, my kiddos!~"





	Happy Fourth of July

**Author's Note:**

> Be kind, I was 14.  
> Enjoy the weird older brother archangels. I don't know what I was doing with them, tbh.

Sam sighed as he heard people around his neighborhood shooting off fireworks, and knew Dean would probably be one of them. The 4th of July held very little amusement for Sam Winchester. He didn’t like the noise caused by people who weren’t celebrating their freedom, but rather looking for a reason to show off the side of them that was a pyromaniac without getting arrested.

He went by to his reading, scrolling through the information on his beat up laptop that had definitely seen better days. He was wondering whether or not to go to sleep while there was a lull in between the fireworks, but his thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing, only once. A text message.

Sam groaned as he rolled his tall frame off of his bed, walking to his desk where his phone lay, tossed aside and so far forgotten. His eyes widened when he realized he'd received several messages, all from the same person. Gabriel.

Cautiously, Sam began to read them.

From: Loki 8:14 p.m.

_Wanna come over? Michael’s out of the house for awhile, Cas’s with Dean, and Luci’s drunk off his ass. I want company. :{_

From: Loki 8:57 p.m.

_Nvm Michael’s back._

From: Loki 9:29 p.m.

_Hey, wanna go into town and watch the fireworks?_

From: Loki 9:45 p.m.

_Are you ignoring me?_

From: Loki 10:37 p.m.

_You know, the show’s over now._

From: Loki 10:42 p.m.

_Do you not like the 4th of July?_

From: Loki 10:55 p.m.

_Come see me, sasquatch! I have sparklers!_

From: Loki 11:12 p.m.

_….Fine, I’ll just be ignored…_

The message that he’d most recently received read:

From: Loki 11:23 p.m.

_This is gonna sound creepy, but I’m actually only a few blocks away right now, and I was thinking of taking you somewhere if you’re willing._

Sam shook his head, smiling faintly. He looked around his room, grabbed his jacket just in case, put his phone in his pocket, and walked out of his room as quietly as he could before he remembered Dean had actually encouraged him to do something with himself tonight instead of staying cooped up, and his father wasn’t here to yell at him.

The seventeen year old opened the door to the apartment to see in front of him some of the neighbors sitting in a circle while one of them lit off the fireworks. None of them even looked over, though Sam’s fingers curled around the pocket knife he had just in case. He pulled out his phone, and replied to Gabriel.

**Okay, where are you?**

_On my way to get you, seeing you’ve actually replied._

Sam rolled his eyes, walking towards the street and waiting. He smiled when Gabriel pulled up, neither of them acknowledging the looks the smooth black Mercedes received from those near by. Sam slid inside the passenger seat, and looked over at the man beside him. Gabriel responded with that cheeky grin of his, driving away from the shabbier side of town.

“Why did you not respond?” asked Gabriel after awhile, sounding a little offended. Sam looked over, and sighed.

“I was reading, Gabe,” he explained. “I was online looking up things that crossed my mind about fireworks.” Gabe raised an eyebrow, and smirked.

“Was it interesting?” he asked with curiosity, and Sam nodded, paying attention to where they were driving, which seemed to be close to where Gabriel lived.

“It was plenty interesting, really. I could probably build some if I had the right materials,” mused Sam, turning back to Gabriel. “Where are we going?”

Gabriel only grinned in reply, stopping in front of a large house where Sam knew he lived. He parked in the garage, and then got out. Sam hesitantly followed his example, standing slowly. He had received endless invitations here from Gabriel, though had only been here to work with Cas on a project they shared, seeing Sam was in classes above his grade

He had remained quiet in front of Cas’s family, and explained that he wasn’t comfortable with bringing Cas over to his house, to which Gabriel had readily agreed. Sam hadn’t really said much after that, using a laptop case to hide just how beat up the computer really was while looking up information

Michael had watched in confusion as Sam had tapped impatiently on the side of the screen often, and was surprised when Sam just slammed it shut, muttering under his breath about how he needed to run a scan of the files. Then the junior had turned to the books, thumbing through them with sharp eyes, taking notes.

Sam’s eyes caught one of the other cars parked in the garage, and they narrowed. “Gabe,” he said in a warning tone. “Please don’t tell me this is get together. I may stab you.” Gabriel only laughed, patting the Impala’s hood.

“It wasn’t planned, at least not by me. Cas invited Dean, and Dean mentioned something about you being holed up at your place. So I wanted you to come over, and the others didn’t complain.” Sam thought about that for a second, and then laughed when Gabriel added, “Well, except Luci, but he’s drunk, so we ignored him.”

Sam followed Gabe reluctantly through the house, going right to the backyard, where Dean immediately grabbed him. “There you are!” he exclaimed loudly, tugging him close. “We thought you’d never get here!” Cas smiled faintly, shaking his head.

Michael was observing as he allowed Lucifer to set up the fireworks, green eyes sharp. He looked over when Sam and Gabriel went into the backyard, and nodded, trying to not scold Lucifer when he dropped something, Finally, Dean walked over.

“I can do this, you know.” he said, watching the blonde man in front of him glare, before standing up straight. When he did, he was faced with the realization that Dean was taller than he was, and looked a hell of a lot more intimidating than he’d thought. Michael’s lips twitched, watching Lucifer stumble toward a lawn chair while Dean went to work with the fireworks, fingers not fumbling once.

Castiel looked over to Sam as Gabriel went to pester his drunk older brother, and sighed quietly as he looked him over. Sam hadn’t come by much this summer, and he looked rugged. He couldn’t help but feel guilty looking a the old and worn clothing Sam wore, shoes worse for wear, and also noticing that Sam seemed to close himself off whenever he was here.

Michael was looking Dean up and down, trying to determine what made the man so different, trying to find what Castiel saw in him. Dean worked well with cars, though was also hiding an IQ in the mid-hundreds, which had only been exposed when Dean had snapped at Luci for being a prick. He was the older of two brothers, caring for his little brother who was turning eighteen soon. He had witty remarks for everything, and a smile that could probably make anyone he chose melt.

Though he also had a certain gleam to his eye that made Michael uneasy. It was like Dean was looking at a the world through a whole other perspective, and he didn’t want anyone else to see it. Dean had proven a point of not bringing Cas to his side of town, and Gabriel had shared where they lived, making Michael wonder why Dean put up with them. They had money, and wouldn’t really have to work because of that. Their dad made sure they had enough.

From the way they acted, Sam and Dean only had each other, and were just trying to make their way by.

Finally, Dean stood up straight, stretched, and stepped back. Gabriel walked back over to Sam, and stood next to him. Michael looked over at everyone, and then stood back as soon as they were lit. Sam seemed to stop breathing for a second, Dean doing the same next to him, before their faces broke into wide grins, as if they were both remembering something they’d thought they’d forgotten.

Dean and Sam didn’t know that the Milton boys did this every holiday. They didn’t care. Red, white, and blue fireworks illuminated the sky, and for the first time while with them, Sam and Dean were relaxed. It was strange to see them drop the facade, to stop being so suspicious of everything around them.

“Hey, Dean,” began Sam, smirking as they all sat around the Milton’s living room. “Remember when I was 13? And we saved up all the money we could, and then when Dad was passed out we snuck out and you used a fake ID to buy every kind of firework you could?”

Dean laughed, sitting up straighter next to Cas, who seemed to be interested in this new information. As much as he liked the Winchesters, he knew very little about them. Gabriel raised an eyebrow in question. Michael had things to do the next day, so was asleep, while Lucifer was passed out in the backyard and no one had thought to wake him.

“I remember,” said Dean, like he was reminiscing on the good ol’ days. “You didn’t want to leave the field, and I didn’t either.” He let out a chuckle. “I also remember Dad being pissed the next day.”

Sam nodded in agreement, sighing. “I still can’t believe we didn’t get our asses handed to us for that one,” he sighed with a bitter smile. “I remember talking to Bobby about why Dad liked to drink and getting a good hit to the back of the head.” Dean rolled his eyes. while Cas and Gabriel held an entire silent conversation of eyebrow movement and frowns, not sure how they felt about this conversation. It was obvious the Winchesters had forgotten they were there until Gabe prodded Sam in the arm.

“Hey, lift your arm,” mumbled Gabe, smiling when Sam listened. Then Sam was being hugged by the much shorter person, right in front of Dean and Cas. Gabriel got comfortable there against Sam’s side, and Sam hesitantly lowered his arm, wrapping it around the smaller man with uncertainty. Dean stood, and smiled.

“Get comfy, I guess. I don’t want to go back home just yet,” stated Dean, and Cas stood as well.

Gabriel chuckled, hand on Sam’s chest possessively. “You two aren’t going to be leaving, just because it’s a holiday night, and people are idiots,” he mumbled, and Sam and Dean both nodded, Dean looking a little uncomfortable at the way Gabriel was clinging to his little brother.

Cas smiled faintly, and walked toward the stairs. “Come on, Dean,” he called, “I’ll show you where you can sleep.” Dean followed reluctantly, and once they were upstairs, Cas whispered in his low voice, “Gabriel is one who likes to cuddle with those he likes. He has a strong liking to Sam, which probably also turned into protectiveness since the conversation you two just had right in front of us was what many people would call a  _bit more than odd._ ” pointed out Castiel.

Dean rolled his eyes, and Cas glared at him. Dean looked around, and awkwardly asked, “So where am I sleeping?” Cas pushed open a door, a door to what Dean knew was Cas’s room. “I… I get to sleep in your room?” he asked, trying to not smile as Cas walked inside, grabbing Dean’s wrist to made sure he followed, and then they shut the door. Cas was going to snuggle with him whether Dean liked it or not.

(Dean would like it, but only because it was Cas.)

In the living room, Gabriel shifted against Sam’s side, and looked him in the eyes. Instead of saying anything about the conversation, Gabriel asked, “Do you even know how to cuddle?” Sam blinked at him awkwardly, and shook his head. Gabe sighed. “Thought so.” With that, Gabriel untangled himself from Sam, and stood. “I can give you one of the guest rooms, or… Yeah, one of the guest rooms,” stated Gabriel, remembering that it would be rather strange to invite someone to stay with him when you were still friends.

Sam had almost looked hopeful, though quickly got rid of it as Gabriel stopped and changed the sentence. Gabriel walked down the hall, and opened a door, showing a guest room that was about the size of the living room back at Sam and Dean’s apartment. It had a green theme to it, and a queen size bed. Sam nodded as he looked around, stepping inside.

He turned back to face Gabriel, and Gabriel smiled. “Goodnight, Sam-” he let out an  _oof_  as Sam hugged him tightly. Gabe hesitantly returned the hug, smiling. “Why are we hugging?” he whispered.

Sam let go, and looked down at Gabriel. Gabriel still had arms around Sam, looking up at him with pleading look. The Sam answered with, “I don’t even know anymore. I just felt like I needed to. Because just saying thanks is…”  _Not enough,_  thought Sam, pulling out of Gabriel’s grip and sitting on the bed.

Gabriel sighed, and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly. He didn’t bother going to his own room upstairs, instead going to the couch in the living room. He went there instead to sleep.

(And when he woke up to having Sam next to him again, well, oh well.)

(And when Luci ended up with pictures of Cas and Dean, and Sam and Gabriel, all hell would break loose and they would be deleted.)

(Though Michael still has them. He likes to see his brothers happy.)


End file.
